Nothing As It Seems
by crossroadx
Summary: Five times Ariadne got lied to about Arthur's and Eames' first meeting and one time she was told the truth. SLASH Arthur/Eames


Author: crossroad_x

Title: Nothing As It Seems

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Unbeta'ed (mistake? say it, I change it), half-crack

Word Count: 1,918

Pairing/Character: Arthur/Eames, Ariadne, Cobb, Yusuf,

Summary: Five times Ariadne got lied to about Arthur's and Eames' first meeting and one time she was told the truth.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, but the story. Everything belongs to _the Genius_ Nolan.

Author's note: We all know how curious Ariadne can get. Plus, I blame this piece entirely on '_Stop-Loss', _because while watching it I couldn't get the image of soldier!Arthurout of my head. Takes place during Inception.

**(5+1) Nothing As It Seems**

_5. Eames_

The first time Ariadne saw Eames and Arthur kissing, was the first time she wondered how the two men met. It became something like a hobby. Imagining the hows and whys; it was exiting and funny. But then, like everything Ariadne thought about too much, her curiosity got the better of her. She wanted to know.

It was a nice day when she decided to ask Eames. It was bright, the sun shining through the windows into the warehouse. With a small smile she trotted over to the forger; the adrenaline pumping through her veins. By now she had thought about all the possibilities and wondered which one was right.

"Hey, Eames." The Brit looked up from the files in his hands. "What is it, sweetheart?" Still smiling optimistically she took a stool and sat opposite from the man.

"Can I ask you something?" Ariadne looked at the other man, hope shining in her eyes; Eames smile was affectionate. "Sure. Go ahead." She took a deep breath, tried to calm her nerves. "How did you and Arthur meet?" Eames blinked, as if he didn't understand the question, than chuckled.

"Actually we know each other since College. We met, we hated each other, and we began to love each other. Nothing exiting." Ariadne stared for a long moment. "That's it? I mean, just like that?" "Well, no. I could tell you about the months of denial and heartbreak, but that's not interesting. Just depressing." The young woman laughed. "Wow. And I thought it was something…" "More spectacular? Sorry to disappoint you. I could tell you how we ended up in this business, if you want." Smiling she stood up. "No, thank you."

As she was about to go, she craned her neck to see Arthur looking at Eames with a grim expression and the forger shaking his head.

And Ariadne knew. She knew that Eames had lied to her. It was too much of a fairytale to believe in it.

_4. Yusuf_

The next day, she tried to ask Yusuf. As Eames' best friend he should know the truth, and why not tell her? Or that's what she thought at the beginning. Her opinion was about to be changed. The sun was still shining, except for a few little grey clouds every now and then covering the yellow ball.

"Yusuf?" He turned away from his chemicals. Pushing up his safety glasses he grinned down at her. "You've got all my attention." "Yusuf," she began seriously, "tell me: How did Arthur and Eames meet?" He started to look uncomfortable, his grin sinking down to a mere smile. Her eyes stayed on him, while his wandered down, to the left and finally to Ariadne.

"I don't know exactly. I think they met on a disastrous job, you know? Arthur's team didn't have the knowledge that there was another team involved or rather hired from someone else. It wouldn't have been a problem, if the other team would have wanted the same. But that wasn't the case. Eames' team had needed different information and unfortunately for Arthur they'd been faster. You can probably imagine the chaos." Ariadne looked at him skeptically. "And that's how they met? As enemies?" "Yep," Yusuf nodded. "For real?" Yusuf nodded again and Ariadne didn't believe him one word. Arthur would never ever make such a mistake. Instead she said,"Aha."

If no one wanted to tell her the truth than she would have to ask the other man involved. Arthur would be honest, Ariadne was sure of it.

_3. Arthur_

In her head her interview occurred like this:

A warm smile. "Hi, Arthur. Want to tell me _the story_?"

A frown. "Which story?"

A grin. "Ah, come on." A little punch. "You know. You and Eames."

Dimples. "Sure. Sit down. It's a long, exiting story and…."

In reality it went down like this:

It wasn't really raining outside, neither was the sun shining. It was grey and dull. Determined and with all her hope pinned on Arthur, Ariadne strutted past Eames' desk directly to Arthur's. Her fist met the table and confused brown eyes looked up at her.

"Is something wrong?" Scraping a stool over the floor in front of Arthur's desk, she pursed her lips before she spoke. Arthur couldn't get any more confused.

"How did you and Eames meet? Don't lie to me, Eames already did that." Arthur sighed. "Alright. Okay." He leaned backwards and began without hesitation," Cobb, Mal and myself needed a forger for a job. Dom hired Eames. We worked together, he flirted, and I was attracted. We fucked. After the job, of course. We stayed in touch. We fell in love. End." His face never changing once, staying cool and cocky.

Ariadne stayed silent and stared at him with sadness in her eyes. Head-shaking she stood and looked down at Arthur, who had an unbelievable fear in his eyes. "I can't imagine what could be so bad that you don't wanna tell. I won't think any less of you," she said with a hushed tone."You're right. You can't. Just stop it, Ariadne."

With a worried smile she left, feeling Arthur's stare on her back.

_2. Cobb_

Being Ariadne she wouldn't let it go, of course not. And the last person to ask what Cobb. She didn't ask him until now; too scared of his reaction, yet she had no other choice. He was the only one left and maybe he would be so nice to clear things up.

It was dark outside, the sun wasn't shining, when Ariadne approached Dom. "Hey, Cobb. Can I ask you something?" He turned away from his work and shook his head. The brunette woman was startled. Before Ariadne could ask _why not_ or what his problem was, his voice already filled the small space between them. "They told me you would come. Ariadne, let it go. Listen to Arthur and stop it. There are people out there who don't want other people to know their secrets." "But-" " Ariadne, no. His past _belongs to him_ " "It's not fair, Dom! Everybody knows but me!" "And Arthur has his reasons." She wouldn't give up. No way. It couldn't be _that _worse. She huffed and started again, "Is it because I'm a woman? I wouldn't understand or this kind of crap?"

She was getting angry and frustrated; just like Cobb. "Stop it, Ariadne!" His voice loud and clear as a bell. Her mouth closed with a snap, her argument dying in the back of her throat. She couldn't stand looking into those furious blue eyes and instead looked down, muttering a small, "sorry," and walked over to her own work. 

As she remodeled a certain part of her layout she came to her senses. Maybe she should really let it go. Ariadne would apologize. After she knew the reason for everything.

_1. Eames_

She knew it was a bad idea, asking the forger again, but what else could she do? If she was nice and understanding, apologizing like a good girl, maybe then he would tell her. As a thank you or anything alike.

The other option was getting him drunk, but she doubted that she would win this. It was Eames, after all. And Arthur wasn't an option; she never saw Arthur with something alcoholic. Whenever they were out in a club, a bar, restaurant or whatever he never ordered a beer or wine or anything alike. It was always water or juice. Ariadne had always wondered what was up with his behavior, but eventually came to the conclusion that he was a very healthy anti-alcohol kind of guy.

She knew Eames saw her approaching; she also knew he was sighing. But she didn't let herself be deterred. Outside it was drizzling.

"Before you say something, I just want to apologize. Really. It was wrong from me to force you or the others. I guess Arthur would know better than I do what to tell me or-, " she was interrupted by an annoyed looking Eames, "Ariadne. I won't tell you. Why is it so important anyway?"

Why was it? She was snooping around for so long by now she totally forgot why. Her only goal had been _to know_.

She bit her lip. Maybe she forgot why, but she was creative and her next words weren't wrong either. "Because it's a huge part of your life," she answered truthfully and soft.

Eames didn't say a thing. Ariadne sighed and smiled. "Good evening." With that said she was about to leave the warehouse. Her last hope vanishing on the way out; she would never know.

Just before she walked through the doors, she turned around to see Eames hugging Arthur from behind. They were talking about something; Arthur smiled, turned his head around and kissed the other man.

Head-shaking Ariadne left.

_0. Arthur_

It was one week later, by now the rain was pouring heavily down from the sky, when the team sat in a small bar. Inside it was warm and cozy. Ariadne was positioned opposite from the two men who were the reason for her frustration. Eames' arm was around Arthur's shoulders, a content smile on both their faces.

The point man whispered into the other's ear and stood up. "I'm getting new drinks. Would you help me, Ariadne?" Confused she joined him. "Sure." Who was she to deny his request?

Only that a second later he led her outside, not to the barkeeper. He pulled a cigarette out of his pocket. After two long drags he turned to face her. "You still wanna know?" She thought about the offer, just a moment."Yes." "Alright." He stared at the rain. Ariadne was relieved they stood underneath the marquee.

"I was a soldier once, young and patriotic. But when I came back, my attitude changed. I was a wreck. I had nightmares, I couldn't sleep for months. I was seeing the faces of my fallen comrades. But I didn't- I couldn't drop out of army. It was the only thing I had back then. It was killing me slowly, but I needed it for different reasons. So I signed up for a top secret project." "The dream sharing," Ariadne whispered. Arthur nodded, but his face didn't change. "Now think about it: A soldier with a broken psyche working for this project. I didn't handle it very well. I…," he stopped and took another long drag. "I became an alcoholic. And one day I was in that bar, I can't even remember the name, and I was drunk and about to start a bar fight. And this guy came up to me and dragged me outside. I yelled at him, but he dragged me with him into his apartment. And I broke down. This guy hugged me and comforted me, while I cried my heart out. I fell asleep on his couch afterwards." The cigarette was flicked away and a smile appeared on Arthur's face.

"When I woke up he was sitting right next to me, watching me. And out of the blue he was offering me to live with him. I didn't know the guy, not even his name and he asked me to live with him. Turned out it was the best decision I've ever made."

Without thinking about it Ariadne hugged her friend. "Thanks for telling me," she whispered in his ear and went back in.

This truly had been a story worth fighting for. Maybe she would ask about the details later.


End file.
